Time Capsule Sealed For The Future

Updated:
Sunday, November 11, 2007 12:04 AM EST

It was a celebration Saturday in Tulsa, 100 years in the making. Tulsa's Centennial time capsule was sealed Saturday and hundreds of Tulsans gathered at Veterans Park for the two-hour event. News On 6 anchors Terry Hood and Scott Thompson hosted the special ceremony and News On 6 reporter Dan Bewley, the newest member of our team was also there and he reports hundreds of personal items were sealed in the time capsule.

The list of items included several precious symbols of service, purple hearts and other medals awarded to Tulsa war veterans. All sealed in a specially built vault and packed for the future.

Saturdayâ€™s celebration party will not officially end for another five decades and with that in mind, hundreds showed up at Veterans Park to sign the time capsule. Those names inside the 15-foot long capsule were just a small part of Tulsa 2007's gift to Tulsa 2057. A Hasty-Bake grill was joined by PVC pipes filled with family mementos and the big gift, a 2007 Harley Davidson Street Glider with only 12 miles on the odometer.

So how do we know these gifts will make it fifty years? Colin Tawney is not worried; he worked on the team to build the 4-ton tube of steel.

â€œThe carbon steel itself is pretty resistant to corrosion. In addition, we epoxy coated it and we coated the inside of it. Then we're going to purge all of the air out of the vessel after it's sealed up, it'll be completely seal welded. We're going to purge all of the air out and charge it with an inert gas, either nitrogen or argon. And so that will create a perfect environment for it,â€ said Colin Tawney with Boyle Services.

A hermetically sealed birthday present for the state of Oklahoma with a message from one generation to another.

Unlike other time capsules, this one will remain above ground at Veterans Park. Time capsule organizers plan to encase the capsule in bricks, and residents can buy their own brick to be placed along a walkway leading up to the time capsule.